Monomoy Girl a standout in all-stakes pick five

LEXINGTON, Ky. – It’s fairly easy to predict who the favorite will be in each of the five graded stakes Saturday at Keeneland, but none more so than for the Ashland Stakes.

Monomoy Girl undoubtedly will be a short price in the Grade 1 Ashland as trainer Brad Cox looks to get the filly back to his hometown of Louisville as the favorite for the Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs.

“She’s coming into the race as well as we could hope for,” said Cox. “She’s trained extremely well. She had a very strong breeze here Sunday at Keeneland and we feel like she’s ready to put in a huge effort. We’re excited.”

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The Ashland is worth 170 qualifying points toward the May 4 Oaks, with 100 to the winner. It’s the ninth of 11 Saturday races and directly precedes the spring-meet showcase, the Blue Grass, for which Good Magic will be favored. Post time for the Ashland is 5:45 p.m. Eastern, with the Blue Grass (race 10) following at 6:23.

A pick five wager with a $300,000 pool guarantee will link the five graded stakes. The sequence starts with the Grade 3 Commonwealth (race 6, 4:00), in which Limousine Liberal heads a field of 10. Then comes the Grade 2 Shakertown (race 7, 4:35), which drew an oversubscribed field of turf sprinters led by Disco Partner, then the Grade 1 Madison (race 8, 5:10), for which the California shipper American Gal could be a slight choice over Lewis Bay, Salty, and Ami’s Mesa in a terrific field of 13 fillies and mares going seven furlongs.

Keeneland will offer three pick four wagers Saturday, including a $400,000 pool guarantee on races 7-10. The others will span races 2-5 and 8-11.